Reading for New Professionals

       

As a trainee/library assistant it can be difficult to know the best resources to use when preparing to undertake an MA course. It may be that you want to find out a little more about the profession before investing in a degree, or you may be just researching ways to develop in your current role. In either case, I've been lucky to have some really good reading recommendations from colleagues and friends and thought I'd share a few.

Prior to starting my graduate traineeship I had a browse around Facet publishing's website, on the lookout for a general introduction to the library and information sector that would give me an idea about the day to day skills I would need to develop during my traineeship and an overview of different cataloguing and classification schemes. I found the new professionals section of the site really helpful and invested in Librarianship: An Introduction which I've found useful in providing an overview of Librarianship, I think it provides a good starting point for further reading. Ordering books from Facet can be quite expensive if you are a student or just starting out, but CILIP members are offered a 20% discount if you enter you membership number when purchasing.

I was very lucky to have been recommended Bethan Ruddock's, The New Professionals Toolkit by the Information Services manager, which I found accessible, humorous and extensively detailed in coverage. After having a really interesting discussion with the Collection Development manager about her role, the college's collection development policy and the future of managing collections, she recommended I take a look at Peter Clayton and G E Gorman's Managing Information Resources in Libraries. This text is on the UCL Library and Information Studies reading list, along with Graham P. Cornish's Copyright which provides an extremely useful resource for understanding the copyright issues that affect the information profession and how to ensure information services adhere to legislation.

CILIP members (on proof of membership and ID) can get a readers pass for the British Library, who have a collection of Library and Information Science books and journals. I plan to make full use of the resources during my traineeship so I have a balanced understanding of all the basics before I start a course at library school.

I'd love to expand upon this list, if anyone can point me towards any more pre-course reading to add, I'll welcome all ideas.